Notre Dame researchers Marya Lieberman, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Neil Lobo, research associate professor of biology, have received two of the first ever Global Health Pilot Project awards, a collaboration between the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) and the Indiana University Center for Global Health.
The program was created to encourage development of new collaborative interdisciplinary research that seeks to identify innovations to address key global health challenges and improve health outcomes in resource-limited settings. The award provides up to $10,000 in research funding.
Richard Taylor, Deputy Director of the Indiana CTSI at Notre Dame, said, “These awards promote collaboration with researchers outside the University while enhancing Notre Dame’s mission to be a powerful force for good in the world. I look forward to seeing these projects translate into life-saving solutions to some of the world’s most challenging health problems.”
Lieberman’s project, “Pharmaceutical Quality in Malawi,” is developing a sustainable program for post-market surveillance of pharmaceuticals and studying medicine quality modeling best practices. This research is essential to providing people with access to quality medicine and positive clinical outcomes in Malawi; it is a collaboration between Lieberman and Ibrahim Chikowee from the University of Malawi College of Medicine.
Lobo will work with Jennifer Stevenson from Johns Hopkins University on a research project titled “Screening of Cooking Shelters against Outdoor Malaria Vectors in Southern Zambia: A Semi-Field Study.” Their research focuses on reducing exposure to mosquitoes that act as vectors of malaria after dark, but prior to families retiring to their homes. This study will evaluate simple screening methods for outdoor cooking spaces, where many Zambian families spend their time, which exposes them to mosquitoes.
Both Lieberman and Lobo are members of the Eck Institute for Global Health, a University-wide enterprise that recognizes health as a fundamental human right and endeavors to promote research, training, and service to advance health standards for all people, especially people in low and middle-income countries, who are disproportionately impacted by preventable diseases.
Award winners were chosen based on their high potential for attracting new extramural research funding, their focus on strengthening multidisciplinary research collaborations between Indiana CTSI partner institutions as well as key academic research centers abroad, and their emphasis in key, high-yield, research-related initiatives.
The Indiana CTSI is a statewide collaboration between Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of Notre Dame, as well as public and private partnerships, whose mission is to strengthen and support the entire spectrum of translational research from scientific discovery to improved patient care. The Indiana CTSI provides funding opportunities for researchers and currently proposals for Pilot Funding for Research Use of Core Facilities, Community-Based Research Pilot Projects, and Project Development Team: Diagnostics and Therapeutics are open for applications.
For more information on the Indiana CTSI, including funding opportunities, please visit ctsi.nd.edu.
Originally published by Brandi Klingerman at ctsi.nd.edu on May 04, 2016.